China-Burma-India WWII

Those who recognize the term Flying Tigers, remember it as a unit of volunteer U.S. pilots working for the Chinese in their struggle with Japan before Pearl Harbor. Not so. While there were American volunteer pilots recruited for service in China, the Flying Tigers first saw action in Burma, where they were caught in transit (to China) by the Japanese attacks in December 1941. In those battles, the Americans fought under British control and in a few months most were inducted into the U.S. Army Air Force and continued to serve in China as part of the newly activated U.S. Fourteenth Air Force. The Flying Tigers' name itself did not appear until after Pearl Harbor (in a Time magazine article in late December). The Walt Disney Studios promptly provided a suitable insignia.

Officially known as the American Volunteer Group (AVG), the organization had a curious history. The organizer and leader of the Flying Tigers was Claire Chennault. An able U.S. Army fighter pilot, he made himself unpopular with his theories (largely correct) of how to use fighters. Forced to retire in 1937 (at age forty-four), he cast about for something to do before (as he was sure would happen) America was at war with Germany and Japan and he would be able to get back into uniform. Through his contacts with aircraft manufacturers, he secured a contract to do a survey of the struggling Chinese Air Force and suggest changes that would provide better defense against the rampaging Japanese fighters and bombers. Chennault made an impression on the Chinese and was asked to gather the dozens of mercenary pilots into one unit, train them to act as a team, and give the Japanese a bloody nose. He was also put in charge of training new Chinese pilots. It was a tall order. The largely non-American mercenaries were an undisciplined lot and many did not have a mastery of English. The aircraft were an oddball collection of whatever the Chinese government had been able to buy. Russian, German, Italian, and American manufacturers were all trying to sell additional aircraft (and not always their best stuff). The Russians had their own group of "volunteer" pilots, but the Chinese weren't impressed by the Russians' skill, nor did they trust the Communists. This is understandable, as the Chinese Communists were trying to overthrow the non- Communist Chinese government (a temporary truce was in effect in order to oppose the Japanese).

The U.S. government was also concerned with the hammering the Chinese were getting from the Japanese Air Force. By late 1940 an agreement was made for the U.S. government to provide loans for the Chinese to buy the latest U.S. fighter aircraft, and for U.S. Army and Navy pilots to be recruited for the AVG. Officially, the U.S. government had nothing to do with the recruiting (although the recruiters were free to entice serving pilots to join the AVG). But Chennault and the Chinese didn't care about these technicalities. With the AVG, the Chinese would have trained and disciplined pilots flying modern aircraft. The pilots and aircraft reached Burma in late 1941, and it was in Burma that a training base was set up for the AVG pilots to perfect their teamwork before going north into China. The first taste of combat for the AVG was over Kunming, China on December 20. Three days later on December 23, the 3rd Squadron of the AVG engaged the Japanese over Rangoon, Burma.

In July 1942, the Flying Tigers ceased to exist. Oh, many of the pilots were still flying in China. But they and their aircraft were no longer mercenaries but part of the army air force. In their seven months of existence, the 340 pilots and ground crew of the AVG claimed (and 68 pilots were paid bonuses of over $5,000-in 1994 dollars-per aircraft for) destroying 296 Japanese aircraft. The AVG lost 86 aircraft (only 12 in air-to-air combat), including accidents and 22 were captured when Japanese infantry overran one of their storage facilities in Burma. Twenty-two AVG pilots were killed, captured, or missing. Postwar examination of Japanese records indicates that the AVG actually destroyed 120 Japanese aircraft and killed 400 pilots and aircrew. Many of the Japanese aircraft destroyed were bombers, which had larger crews. Put another way, the Tigers destroyed 21 Japanese aircraft per thousand sorties, while losing only 2 of their own. Their Japanese opponents shot down 6 Tigers per thousand sorties while losing 64 aircraft. The Tigers flew six thousand sorties during this period, versus only two thousand for their Japanese opponents.

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